Multiple cloth shears



5 Sheets-Spheec l June 5, 1928.

' c. G. RICHARDSON MULTIPLE cLoTH sHEARs Filed May 17, 1924 www@ L fr, r

June 5. 1928.

5 sheets-sheet 2 Filed May 17, 1924 C. G. RICHARDSON MULTIPLE CLOTHSHEARS June 5, 1928.

Filed May 1'?, 1924 5 sheets-sheet .5

Zia/65%@ I June 5, 1928.

C. G. RICHARDSON MULTIPLE CLOTH SHEARS Filed May 17, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet4 NKNQ Wm. ./ri ,L l i l ,r mw m /llrll Patented June 1928.

UNITED STATES MONT.

i Application filed May 17,

This invention relates' to multiple cloth shears, and in its presentformis shown `applied to a ,shear of this type constructed y andarranged to be built up out of separate sections that may becoupledtogether, one after the other, so that, starting With a singleshear, itispossible to build .up a multiple shear having as manyshearmgblades and the necessary cooperating elements as it may bedesired to use.`` y p i In many cases mills, equipped `with single ordouble shears, find it advantageous to employ shears having a largerlnumberl of shear blades but are prevented by the large expense involvedin the purchase of. a mul` tiple shear from using such shears 1n theirmills. y

The present invention meets this difliculty by providing individualshear sections that -can be added on to a single shear, one aftertheother, so as to convert a shear into a multiple shear having anydesired number of `Hy blades orshearing devices with the lappropriateco-acting parts.

The building of a shear having four or five bladeshowever presentsarnumber of practical diiiculties with which the present invention isconcerned. v p 1 While the raising of a single fly blade or shear awayfrom the cloth by hand on each circuit that the cloth makes through themachine is not a laborious or burdensome task 'for the operator, yet ina multiple shear having four oriive or even more `iy blades which `haveto be raised each time that the scam ends of the cloth beingshearedapproach the respective fly blades, it entails a great deal of manuallabor upon lthe! operator. To meet this diiliculty I have `providedblade-raising mechanism which, While i still under the manual control ofthe operator, performs theheavy Work of raising lthe blade Whenever hedesires so to do. Furthermore, since the considerable depth of themultiple shear, from the front, which is the operators position, to `theback end, makesit difficult for the operator to inspect the shortstretch of cloth approaching each shearing line, I have so constructedandarranged different parts of the shear to overcome this `diiiicultyby,` arranggjngdf` the mechanism so that the travel of the cloth, infront oit the rearmost iiyblades, is disposed at upward angles makingthe Whole PATENT OFFICE. A

CHARLES G. RICHARDSON, 0F SPRINGFIELD, VERMONT, ASSIGNORTOPARKS & WOOL-SON MACHINE COMPANY, 0F SPRINGFIELD, VERMONT, A CORPORATION OF VER.-`

` MULTIPLE CLOTH sHEAns.

1924. serial No. 713,945.

exposed stretch of the cloth, at the `rear of i the machine in `frontot" each tly blade, clearly visible tor. e

for inspection by the opera Asthe operator must always be able to adjust`or control the extent of movement of the rotary fly blades toward theirrespec` tive cloth rests, l have provided means within easy reach oi"the operator, at the front of the machine, by which he is able toinstantly adjust the stop rest against which chine, and so connectedwith the adjustable stop as to be free rOmbaCkIaSh, whereby the operatorcan tell with certainty and precision the exact distance of each Hyblade from its opposed cloth rest. Y The multiplicit of brush shafts,`cloth feed-roll shafts, in such a multiple shear presents a seriousyproblem of transmission of power Without substantial losses throughdeterioration and stretching oi' belts, belt slippage, undueprolongation ofshaft ends to carry ulleys arranged to prevent mutualinter erence of` the driving belts, and, other troubles as lWell. ATomeet *these conditions I have devised a new system of beltin drive ortrans;- mission by which the variousbrushes of each shear section aredriven by a sin `le individual belt from its own drive pul ey so thatshort belts may be lused with a consequent minimum of stretch and wear,While at the same time avoiding a multiplicity of belts difficultto"`arrange, Without mutual interference" and withoutundue extension ofsome of the shafts. Provision is also made for positive or nonslipping idrive connection betweenthe cloth feed-roll shaftsso as to secure thesame rate of feed for the cloth throughout all shear sections bythe useof interconnected chain drives for such .feed rolls, all of Which travelat a uniform rate. l

These and other features of the'invention will be particularly describedinthefollowy blade shafts etc., used uio rear end of such shear,

dials.

Ltinuation of Figure 1 to complete the entire elevation of the machine.s

Figure 2 is ai plan view illustratingthe arrangementr of the fly-blade.frame stopadjusting mechanism with their respective Figure 3 is anenlarged front elevation showing one ofthe dials as it will appear tothe operator at the front of the machine.

Figure 4 is a sectional detail showing the adjustable stop raised forlimiting the` appreach of each shearfblade to its cloth rest.

Figure 5' is an elevation of the left-hand sideof the machine at thefront end showing the4 chain drive connection for the feed rolls andalso illustratin` the manually controlled power ymechanism ily blades.

"Figure 6is a side elevation at the front or raising the respective .nend of the machine illustrating a modified form of power-.actuatedmechanismfor raising?. shear blade.

igure 7. is a detail front elevationof a part of said power mechanism`shown in Fi ure 6.

he form ofV multipleV shear shown in the accompanying drawings is madein five sections a, b, c, d and e, which designations are applied tovthe frame Work of each section which` are assembled together tomaker-the complete Vquintuple shearbut it will be understood that any`number of sections can be assembled together according to the principleso'f construction and arrangement herein described. l

It will Vbe convenient ,to notice that the course or path of theclothvbeing sheared, through the different parts ofthe machine, is indlcatedby dotted line marked ai in sections c, d and e and in sections L and b.In practice several lengths of cloth may be stitched together atitheirends to form temporarily an endless belt so that the clot-h may be fed`continuously through the machine by thev appropriate feed rolls withiout the necessity of having .to introduce another end of cloth4 eachtime that a piece is run through the machine. On each complete circuitof the stitched pieces of cloth it will be obvious that the nap is'sheared e', an

five times, that is to say, there are il blades or shears used in themachine. he power is applied to the main shaft ai which forms thedriving shaft of the machine and, as showmfisL-located; inthe rearsection a, as viewed in'Figurei la. .Each individual section is providedwithifits own drivin shaft, as indicated at a', b', c', d and d may beinterconnected by suitable driving belts usually arranged on the fartherside ofithe machine from that shown in Figures land la.

0n each of the individual drive shafts are secured transmission pulleysa2, b2, c2, d2, e? for transmitting the4 propei` rotation to thedifferentl brush shafts mounted in each section. Thus in. sectionv atransmission belt, w passes around pulley 1F on the shaft Iref theraising brush and reversely .aroundl pulley. l on the laying brush shaftl, which acts on two adjacentstretches ofthe nap side of the clothA tosmooth or lay down the napafter that portion of the cloth comes` fromthe shear or Hy blade. This transmission belt also passes around drivingpulley s onthe beater brush shaft a'` so that all threebrushes, namely,the raising brush, the beater or clearing brush and the laying brush aredriven in their `appropriatay directions by a single short belt from theindividual trans mission pulley of each section, the belts, brush shaftsandpulleys being correspondingly lettered in each section. y thususin asingle relatively short beltfor drivingal the .brushes of each sectionit ispossible to avoid stretching and kundue Wear of the belts thatwould result from the usual belt-ing as many times as arrangement besideusing arelatively nar-V row belt and pulley transmission, thus avoidingundue extension of the ends of the brush shafts which, with thisarrangement, can all be disposed in the same plane.

Another set of transmission pulleys aa, b3, o?, da ande are alsomountedon. the respective drive shafts of each section in otfsetrelation to the transmission pulleys like a2 which drive the brushshafts, and around the periphery of this second series of`transmissionpulle s aetc., are carried transmission belt 139, d, 0", da andes"which, passing over suitable guidepulleys are carried around the ulleysa5, b5 etc., secured to the ends of the y blade shaftsca, b, c, tand e*to rotate the fly blades or rotary shears at the required speed. Theflyblade driving belts, therefore, can bezarranged toget the maximumfriction `upon the driving andthe transmission pulleys and, relativelyshort, are not ysubject to unduestretch or wear.

The cloth enters n at the front end of the machine in front l `of wherethe o erator stands to control the operation of t e machine, and afterpass' over suitable idler tensioning rolls, 1s carried over a feed rollloo f arrangedat themto'" of each section some:

distance in front `o the respective cloth rests e9, d etc., so as totravel in a substantially horizontal plane at the top of the maj chinewhere these advancing stretches of cloth, in front` of each shear blade,are exposed. to the View of the operator. While such an arrangementfissatlsfactory, so far as the first two or three shear sections are i irest a", travels up a. fairly steep incline instead of on thehorizontal. In the same way the next to the last section has its shearblade shaft b* and its cloth rest b9' mounted at a relatively elevated`position to produce a similar inclination although not as steep a oneas for the last section, This principle of arrangement may be applied toany desired extent in order to prevent intermediate parts of themultiple shear from obstructing the view of the rearmost stretches ofcloth in front of the respective rearward shears. This arrangement hasbecome a serious objection heretofore urged against `the use of shearingelements in a single frame, and does not in the least interfere with thecoupling on in front of as many shear sections as may be desired.

With four or five fiy blades assembled in one machine the difficultiesvof the operator in adjusting the fly blade stops so that the differentfly blades, when in operation, will be set or positioned at the.appropriate distances from their respective cloth rests to shear the napto the appropriate length, are

y manifestly greatly increased since, if the operator has to closelyexamine each fly blade in order to setit, much time is lost in goingfrom one to another and makingrthe appropriate adjustments.

To overcome this difficulty `Ihave provided a series of manuallycontrolled devices for setting orwadjusting" the different stop membersfor each fly bladekframe or head so thatthe operator, from his position`at the front of the machine, can not only set each individual fiy bladestop to any desired position, but can tell, by means of a coordinateddial visible to him from the front of the machine, exactly whatadjustment or setting he is obtaining through the stop-adjusting means.'

`Such adjusting means comprises a series.

of adjusting rods or shafts am, b1", 010, di, ew, one for each stoplrunning from the front end of themachine to each individual section andbeing operatively connected in each case with an individual rock-shaftc`ar` ryingstop cams for limiting the swinging or tion of onewll sufficefor all.` l. wilhtherefore, describe theconstruction and operation ofthe fly blade adjustment for the forward or front section 'of themachine, having particular-reference to Figures 2, 3 and 4 as well as toFigure l.

yThe horizontal hand-controlled shaft em` carries, at its front end, asuitable handle or grip and extends horizontally above and along oneside of the machine toward theA rear, being supported in suitablebearing brackets `mounted on standards 19 and el carried bythe side ofthe main frame and projecting upwardly therefrom.

At its rearward endthis handfcontrolled shaft el is provided with abevelled gear e intermeshing with a horizontal bevelled gear `612secured to the vertical shaft e Whichis mounted in a suitable housing 6*carried by the standard e, and affording adjacent bearingsfor thehorizontal shaft; el and the vertical shaft eli.

On the top ofthe shaft e is firmly secured "a graduated dial e bearingappropriate scale numerals andcooperating with a fixed pointer e15 whichprojects upward from the housing el in front of the dial. i

At its lower end the shaft e" carries a worm 622 meshing'wlth worm gear@23 `secured to lill) the end of the transverse shaft egt extending eachend of the transverse shaft e, an

eccentric cam c25 located Within an encircling casing 628. In the bottomof thislcas-. ing there is mounted a vertical plunger or slide-rod 6'which is kept rfrom dropping out of the casing by any suitablecontrivance, suoli as a stop screw e,projecting into anelongated slot orgroove formed in the side of the plunger. In the bottom `of the plungeris inserted an adjustable screw or bolt e forming an abutment against4which the rearward extensioncor arm 6* of the fly blade frame e, whichis fulcruined on the rock-shaft or trunnions e?, abuts when the flyblade is allowed, by gravity, to return to operative position forshearing adjacent to the cloth rest e9. i

' When the stop abutment e2 on the plunger ,e27 is held at a relativelylow position it will prevent the'fly blade frame et the operatorf to setand` to adjust eachindividual `stop tor each individual fly bladev frameso` as to fg'etjust the proper length of .shearing for-the successivefly blades.

The backlash between the bevel kgears e ellis of no consequence. becausethedial is attached to. the 4Wonm shaft -whose operative connection:with .the transverse cam shaft orstop. shaft is free -froni backlash.Hence, it will: be seen that the operator can set, with exact:.precision, each `individual fly blaide without `leaving his positionat the .frantoi the' machine.

.The mechanical labon of liftingthe heavy Hy blades, which arearrangedto'normally swing otoward i their lrespective cloth rests underVthelactioin of gravity, is quite burdensome where soV manybladesshifting operations Vare required ,ateach circuit ofthe cloth. .Ihave'theretoreiprovided apower mechanism, .manually controlled .by theoperato; to assist hiru inperforming or to perform. under his controlthe work. of` lifting the respective `fly Vbladesas the cloth seam:approaches the line .of shearing in order to let theV seampassbetweenwithout injury to the cloth,.-and1.thsinechanism is most clearly shownin'Figure 5.

.Referring now toFig,uref 5, vthere wisll be seen at the bottom rilrhthand. corner of the ligure a transverse shaft 60, which is continuouslyrotated and to Vwhich .is secured` a spur gear `61 which rotatescontinuously. Ahand. lever62 is pivoted at 63, and at its lower end ispivotally` connected witha link 62a, whose rearward end isconnected toone arm of abellcrank lever 64. A vertical link` 65isgpivotally.connected to the .other arm of theA bell cranklever '64,and atits upper end is pivotally oonneotedzwithfan arm V66 projecting-from fly-blade e". .It will 'be understood that as the operator,standing at the frontof the machine, that is, the right in 'Figure5,throwsfl the hand lever 62 toward the rear ofthe machine, the lowerend of the lever 62, through the link connections, operatesrto swing thefly blade upward away from the cloth rest. To perform this operation 4bypower I mount, near the bottom of lever V1t 2,.a.-pivoted1latch` 67whioh'is preferably-.kept raised iby a tongaged the continuouslyrotating gear 61 acts to swingthe rear end of the lever `62 forwardandthe top end tother'ear, thus raising the fly blade from the clothrest.

The arrangement is such .that further forward movement of the. lower endof the lever 62, carrying the latch 67, causes the latch to bedisengaged from the spur gear automatically'. Otherwise, themere releasing of the rock-lever 70 allows the retractile spring 68 to function to.disengage the latch from` the rotating gear.

As will be understood, this leverand latch mechanism is exactlyduplicated for each individual shear, the only difference inconstruction being that the conecting links 62", 62C, 62, and 62e, aremade of .different lengths so as to connect with the appropriateconnections for each individual .fly blade. The duplication ofthismechanism is c011- veniently illustrated in igure 5 by successivelybreaking away t e upperends of the different duplicated levers 62, 62",62C, to show one behind the other.

It will thus be seen that the raising :of each individualtly bladeiskept entirely under the control of the operator, while at the sainetime heis relieved of the .physical labor by .merely latching anydesiredY controlling lever to its actuating-gear` 61. y

Each lever may also be provided with a hook latch to latch over .atransversebar or stop 76 when it isy desiredy to have the fly blade heldin raisedv position as, for example, when the cloth isfrst being drawnthrough the machine.

It will be understood that in each` case, according tothe usualpractice, theledger blade e, forming the stationary member of eachshearing couple, kis securedito the/fly blade head or frame e so that itswings toward and away from the cloth rest in unison with the rotary flyblade.

yIn yFigures Gand` 7 I have shown a modi-` lied yblade raising powermechanism which may be used in place of that previously described.

In Figure 6 I have shown, inside elevation, the pivotal fly blade headSOmounted on trunnions 8()a with the ledger blade 81. attached incooperative relationship to the ro tary fly blade 82, carried by theshaft83 yon which is secured the ydrivingpulley 84, all. as abovedescribed.

On` the rearward extension or.- arm 85. of the "fly blade frame is-.mounted la.. swiveled lll) ystud 87, vertically boredto receive theactuating or lifting rod 88 which is slidable in the swivel 87, Vand isprovided with a head or nut 86 arranged to provide a slight lost motionor clearance before the head 86 exerts an operative `thrust on the topof the swivel 87 when the rod 88 is pulled downward.

The actuating rod is drawn down. and raised alternately by an eccentriccam 9() on a sleeve 91 which cam is located between two ledges orabutments 89 and 89" formed on a cross head 89 to which thelower end ofthe rod 88 is secured. i

The intermittently rotatable sleeve 91, which carries the cam 90,mounted on a constantly rotating shaft 92 to `which is secured a ratchetwheel 93 which rotates continuously with said shaft.

The pawl 94 is normally drawn into interlocked engagement with theratchet wheel 93 by means ofa tension spring 94, and at its opposite endis provided Witlia laterally projecting offset or stud 94 which, whenenf gaged by the controlling members, presently to be described, servesto release the pawl 94 from engagement lwith the ratchet wheel.

Adjacent to and above the ratchet wheel 93 is mounted a rock-shaft 96at. right angles to the axis of the shaft 92 which rock-shaft isnormally turned. in. a clockwise direction, as viewed from in front,that is, in front of the hand lever` 96e, the limit of rotation beingeffected by a shoulder on the bearing box` 98 whichis engaged by ashoulder 97h on the hub of the arm 97 which is secured to i therockshaft 96. At its lowerend the rock arm 97 is provided with a hook97a adapted to engage the offset pin or stud`94a on the pawl when thearm 97 is in vertical position. Counter-clockwise rotation of therock-shaft 96, by means of the hand lever 96, acts to swing the hook 97aout of engagement with the pawl, thereby allowing the spring 94h toengage, the pawl interlockingly with the ratchet wheel 93. As the pawlis mountf ed on an arm 95, projecting from` the cam sleeve 91, it isobvious that as soon as the pawl is interlocked with the ratchet thesleeve 91 will partake ofthe rotative move' ment of the ratchet wheel sothat the swell or high part ofthe cam will rotate from the uppermostabutment 89Ill into engagement with the lower abutment 89b ot the crosshea-d 89, thereby acting to pull down the rod f 88 and thus raise thefly blade.

On the rear end of the rock-shaft 96 is secured another arm 99, providedwith a shoulder 99a, arrangedto be engaged by the offset pin 9errt asthe pawl rotatesy through half a revolution. This shoulder acts to knockofli' `or disengage the pawl from the ratchet so that the blade remainslifted until the hand lever 96?L is thrown .over again to swing the arm99 clear from engagement with the pin 94. The re-engagement of the viceaswell as the raising of it is effected by the cam which acts to producea gradual descent without shock or rebound.

` What I claim is: j

1. In a multiple cloth shearing machine, the combination of a pluralityof fly blades mounted at intervals across the top ot the machine,cloth-feeding and supporting means arranged in frontof each Hy blade tosupport the Acloth with its nap exposed for some distance as itapproaches the respective fly blades, the cloth-supporting means infront of ythel forward fly blades being disposed to `cause the cloth totravel toward the fly blade in substantially hori zontal planes, therear-most fly bladesbeing mounted above the levelfof the 'forward `onesand the cloth-supporting means in front of such elevated fly bladesbeing disposed to cause the parts of the cloth ap proaehindsuch flyblades to travel oblquely upward to the line of shearing, substantiallyas described. t

2. In aimultiple cloth shearing machine, the combination of a series oftransverse cloth rests, coordinated fly-blades movable toward and fromsaid rests, a series of adjustable stop members arranged to support thethrust of the respective ily-blades t0 ward their `cloth rest-s `whenthe fly-blades are in shearing position, vertical shafts operativelyconnected with the stop members to adjust them'to different positions,indicator dials connected to the top of the respective vertical shaftsto indicate the adjusted positions of said stop membersV and theirfly-blades, and means controlled. Vby the operator at the front of themachine for adjusting the individual stop members and their dials,substantially as described.

3. In a multiple cloth shearing machine, the combination of a series ofcloth rests and coordinated fly-blades mounted in adjustablerelationship, adjusting means for detions preventing backlash betweenthe stop and the dial, and means controlled by the operator at the frontof the machine for rotating each individual dial shaft, substantially asdescribed.

4. In a cloth shearing machine, the combination with a cloth rest, ofv arotary fly blade mounted in a movable head and'normally supported incloth-shearing relation to said cloth rest, a continuously rotatingdriving element, and manually controlled means for establishing anoperative connection between said driving element and said Hy blade headto cause the Hy blade to move away from thecloth rest, substantially asdescribed.

5. In a cloth shearing machine, the combination with a cloth rest, offaHy blade rotatably' mounted in a pivotedheadto permit movement of theHy-blade to and from the cloth rest, a power driven actuating member,means for manually operative connection between said actuating memberandthe H blade head to raise the blade from the clot. yrest, said manualmeans including a Hy-*blade shifting lever controllable at alltimes bythe operator, substantially as described.

6.' In a-cloth shearing machine, the combination with `a cloth rest, arotary Hy-blade supported-in a pivoted head,` ahandlever interconnectedwith the Hy-blade head to shift said head,.a lever-actuating elementnormally disconnected from said lever, and

ymeans-controllable by the operator for operatively. connecting thelever-actuating` element with the'lever to relieve the operatorromliftingthe fly-blade,` and meansfor automatically releasing saidoperative conestablishing i nection after a predetermined movement ofthe lever-actuating element substantially as described.

7. In a cloth shearing machine, the combination of a Hy blade rotatablymounted lseparately movable sup rts one behindthe other transversely 4oft epmachine, a series ofblade-raising levers mounted side by: side atthe front of the machine, said ylevers having operati ve connection with.corresponding fly-blade heads' by connecting links ofdili'erent length,a plurality of continuously rotating actuating elements arranged tocooperate kwith the respectivelevers to raise the corresponding Hyblades, andmanually-controlled means oneaeh' lever` for operatively willwith its actu-A connecting any lever atating., element substantially asdescribed.

In witness whereof, I have subscribedthe above specifiszation.V i

CHARLES G. RICHARDSON.r

atch mounted on the lever and nor-`

